“Tinariwen, the Malian Touraeg group, finally broke through to Western audiences with 2007′s Aman Iman and 2009′s Imidiwan — 20 years after their inception. The increased profile did little to alter their “desert blues” with its incantatory droning — primarily electric — guitars, claps and organic percussion, and chanted vocals in songs about struggle and independence….These songs are simply Tinariwen doing what they do best: being themselves, albeit more powerfully, not because of the collaborations, but because of the acoustic approach they’ve taken here. Their sound is dustier, more evocative of the landscape they wander; Tassili is as desolate — and as timeless — as the desert itself.”–All Music Guide